installation or
installation art - Art
that is or has been installed —arranged in a place— either by the artist or as specified by the artist. It might be either site-specific or not, and either indoors or out. The term became widely
used in the 1970s and 1980s, and continues to be employed by many people. Installations may be temporary or permanent, but most will
be known to posterity through documentation. As a consequence,
one aspect of installations is often the difficulty with which
they can be commodified.
Artists identified with installations include Walter De
Maria (American, 1938-), Nancy Holt (American, 1938-) and Mary
Miss (American, 1944-).

Dan Flavin (American, 1933-1996), Untitled, 1996, fluorescent light, Dia
Center for the Arts, NY. This is a permanent installation of
blue and green light in the two
staircases, and exemplifies Flavin's subtle work in relation
to a specific architecturalcontext. It is Flavin's
last of many works in fluorescent light.

Walter De Maria (American, 1935-), The Broken
Kilometer, 1979, 500 highly polished, round, solid brass rods, each measuring
two meters in length and
five centimeters (two inches) in diameter.
The 500 rods are placed in five parallel rows of 100 rods each.
The sculpture weighs 18 3/4 tons and would measure 3,280 feet
if all the elements were laid end-to-end. Each rod is placed
such that the spaces between the rods increase by 5 mm with each
consecutive space, from front to back; the first two rods of
each row are placed 80 mm apart, the last two rods are placed
580 mm apart. Dia Center for the Arts, 393 West Broadway in New
York City.

Gary Hill (American, 1951-), Inasmuch
as it is Always Already Taking Place, 1990, 16 channel video installation
(NTSC, black-and-white, sound) with 16 modified video monitors,
synchronizer, and niche, collection of the artist. Sixteen picture
tubes in various sizes are loosely arrayed in a jumble, and housed
within a deep horizontal
alcove at chest level. Each screen displays an image of a portion
of the artist's body -- an upturned ear, a curled spine, a heaving
chest -- magnified and bathed in a soft, blue glow. The spare
movements of each bodily fragment
are accompanied by the gentle sounds of rustling paper, hushed
phrases, and the rubbing of skin, repeating endlessly in a closed
loop. See self-portrait.